Davitt Ready To 'grace' Third World Cup : Ulster Rugby

Grace Davitt is hoping it will be a case of ‘third time lucky’ as she prepares for next month’s World Cup in France.

The Cooke centre was a member of the Ireland squad that finished 8th and 7th in the previous two tournaments in Canada and England, but she believes winning the 6 Nations Grand Slam last year can spur them on to succeed on the biggest stage of all. “My first cap was in 2005 and back then we were lucky to win one or two games in the 6 Nations. For us to go and win the Grand Slam was just unthinkable,’ she says.  “But now we have a belief within the squad that is just getting stronger and stronger and when you have the belief that you can win, it can happen for you. We've improved our position in the last two World Cups and we’re progressing as a team so we're definitely aiming for 6th or higher.” Ireland has been grouped in a difficult pool alongside defending champions New Zealand, as well as USA and Kazakhstan, both of whom they also faced in the 2010 tournament. It’s a challenge that Davitt is very much relishing: “Our results over the past couple of years show that we have nothing to fear and that we can beat anyone on our day. We have a good mix of experience and youth; we have people like Lynne Cantwell who will be playing in her fourth World Cup and who has great experience, and then you have the enthusiasm of young players like Ashleigh (Baxter) that are bringing something new to the squad.” Increased media coverage coupled with the Grand Slam triumph in 2013 has led to more and more females taking up the oval ball sport, a trend that will only help the future of the game at all levels.  “When I first started, people didn't know women played rugby, so for matches to be televised and for us to play at stadiums like Twickenham and the Aviva, it promotes the game in a great light and suddenly young girls have something to aspire to. The women's game has exploded with the number of girls playing, and playing at a younger age,” says Davitt, one of four Ulster-born players in the squad. Having played international rugby for nine years, Davitt has witnessed first hand the changes and progress being made within the Ireland Women’s setup: “In the years that I've been playing, the difference in terms of support that's there and the professionalism is unbelievable. Our management team is amazing; the amount of work they put in behind the scenes to get us to where we are. We now have regular skills and strength & conditioning sessions which are carried out provincially, in addition to our squad sessions as a group.” Unlike their male counterparts, female rugby players in Ireland are not full time athletes, and therefore it’s a case of balancing rugby and work. “Rugby is your life; it takes over. Work is brilliant in facilitating time off, but a lot of us have to save up annual leave to use it for tournaments such as this. You train in the morning, go to work and then train again in the evening and go to bed. That's what you have to do to be the best that you possibly can so you give every free moment to rugby,” says Grace. Having tasted the elation of an historic Grand Slam win 16 months ago, Davitt and her Ireland colleagues will be hoping that the sacrifices continue to pay off in Paris next month. The pool and knockout stages of the tournament will be played at the FFR Headquarters in Marcoussis (20 miles from Paris), with the semi-finals, Bronze Final and Final taking place at Stade Jean-Bouin in the French capital. TG4 have confirmed they are to broadcast Ireland's pool games live as well as both semi-finals and the final. Ireland's game against New Zealand will be televised live on Sky Sports. Ireland Women's Rugby World Cup Fixtures Pool Games Fri 1st August - USA v Ireland Tue 5th August - New Zealand v Ireland Sat 9th August - Ireland v Kazakhstan Playoffs Wed 13th August Sun 17th August

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Davitt Ready To 'grace' Third World Cup

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